SP Tools Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen has managed to continue his fine form on the opening day of the Clipsal 500 ending up 2nd quickest at the conclusion of the three practice sessions.
Coming off two podiums in the Middle East, van Gisbergen made a smooth transition from the wide, flowing tracks of Abu Dhabi and Bahrain to the tight and sometimes torturous street circuit of Adelaide Parklands to finish one tenth of a second behind Team Vodafone’s Jamie Whincup in the times.
It was a solid day all round for Stone Brothers Racing with all three cars finishing inside the top twelve. Wilson Security Racing’s Tim Slade was a little hot under the collar at the end of the session after an incident with Jason Bargwanna that potentially cost him a top five time on his final flying lap, the end result was a respectable 10th. IRWIN Racing’s Alex Davison also had his frustrations with traffic but was pleased to be 12th at the conclusion of the day.
“We actually were struggling with the car a little bit to start with today, we made a spring change and it got a lot better. Thanks to the tyres at the end there we made a good gain and set a good lap time." said van Gisbergen
“For the short twenty minute qualifying session tomorrow it will be pretty hectic out there but you just have to find your own clear track, switch your headlights on so everyone knows you’re on a fast lap and go for it.
“This is a great circuit that you can really get into, from the first run you scrape your mirror on the walls , it’s a cool feeling you can just push the car hard and bounce around a bit.
“The car feels great and it’s good to be consistently quick, I think the difference is this year that I am just making better choices on the track. I’m not as desperate to make passes and I know the car is capable of winning so I am more comfortable to just hang in there for a few laps before making a move on someone."
For teammate Alex Davison it wasn't as good a day but he remains positive ahead of tomorrows qualifying session.
“We didn’t go quite as well as we would have liked today, but we really improved the car quite a lot towards the end and that is something I am particularly happy about. At Bahrain we somehow managed to make the car feel worse as the session went on but we made good changes today and between the three of us drivers worked really well as a team.
“Today was the first time the cars started out setup 100% the same and I think that’s an important thing we need to continue in the future, I know it really helped us today.
“Coming off such big free flowing circuits like we raced on in the Middle East it certainly took a little while to build up confidence today, it can be quite daunting around here and you don’t want to get too close to the concrete walls but once we made the car better it was easier to really push hard and suddenly you don’t notice they are there anymore. It’s always good fun around here!”
